Mandira is a college student part timing at a florist shop in Finland, aware of the shop being run by Elodie and her human/mandrake children. Bubbly and friendly, she is also a cheerleader, and generally a charismatic person. Seeing the closeness of the Illes family pushes her to be closer to her own half sibling.

She has a very sisterly personality where she's conscientious of others around her and helps others even without being asked to. She makes a good friend and is very engaging, always talkative and humorous. She will think out loud even if it's her opinion of someone, which might come off as rude than honest. When scolded she will just say ok and not escalate things out of habit, like she doesn't want others to think it worries her. She bottles things. Her bad habit is being indifferent to others as soon as she gets a bad impression, becoming untrusting from that point. She doesn't want to keep troublesome people around her because she refuses to be let down or betrayed, which is how she feels towards her father over a divorce in her childhood that she hasn't gotten over.

The earlier years of Mandira’s life tend to be a topic she avoids, one that brings out a complicated expression when prompted. Once an only child, she was mainly raised and doted on by her mother. Her father’s presence was palpable outside of his busy work, yet were so many trips necessary? The thought didn’t initially cross a child’s mind, rather, little Mandira would ask for souvenirs, not that he’d return with them sometimes. The memory remains fresh even now; the family’s memorabilia strewn across the carpet, the scent of an unfamiliar perfume, the crass words caught and thrown back even harsher, like a bomb fuse at it’s end. “Enough. I’m filing for a divorce.”

To Mandira, it was a word she didn’t learn, or knew, or understood. Not yet. When her parents separated, her mother left first to live with her family, but Mandira had to stay for school and due to her father’s higher income. The words “okay” burned when spoken, seared into her as her only vocabulary at the time. It was her reply when her mother said she had to go for now, when her father said he’d take care of her “as usual”, but the normalcy was disregarded the moment he cheated on her mother. Seeing another woman move into the household, pregnant, Mandira didn’t want to be home if she could help it.

She’d grown to raise herself, to decline any help from a family that was alien to her, a stepmother that was never meant to fill the walls that her mother’s photos once graced. When her half brother was born, it was another feeling that she was simply spectating a family she wasn’t supposed to partake in. Her studies continued, quick to eat breakfast as she walked to classes, joining any clubs where she could socialize and speed up the days. Friends occasionally noticed she never wanted visitors to host, but a handful never minded having her around at theirs, or for sleepovers. It was a kind gesture, but overall she still felt as though there wasn’t a place she belonged in just yet. Where was her comfort?

While she visited her mother in secret from time to time over the years, it was less frequent into her college years when she had to show how diligent she was about her major in Chemistry. Science was all she had in her mind, finding solace in indisputable facts, with no need for lies and superstition, something she had enough of at home. After studying at a family restaurant, a flower shop caught her eye one evening. In the front of the shop she could see magnolias arranged in a display bouquet, familiar flowers that she associated with a tree she’d seen with her mother before. The sweet old man running the shop noticed the soft expression the flowers seemed to draw from her, offering her a complimentary handful. The gesture made her day, becoming more aware of this florist whenever she was passing by there on, meeting eyes, waving, saying good morning as she headed to her college. How strange, not even in her home did she say good morning to anyone— Mr. Illes had become this significant to her day.

Sometimes she would stick around even after closing to have dinner with the Illes, to do her schoolwork and get some guidance as Mr. Illes was very science-savvy himself, always astounding Mandira with the different science certifications he’d collected over his long life. On the weekends she’d sneak out of home to visit, her curious little brother followed, initially shooed away by Mandira until Mr. Illes invited him in too. From what Mr. Illes gathered from his sister, he felt Veli was just a child with no bad intentions, simply a brother who wanted to understand his distant sister better. Through time, tasked by Mr. Illes to grow things together, to spend time and talk, their bond certainly improved. Yet one morning Mandira didn’t see Mr. Illes or his wife for the usual Good Morning, so she’d come back in the afternoon to learn he was in hospice. His health declined gradually the last few years, but lately he showed grave signs. When his time ran out, Mandira couldn’t even look in the direction of the shop, knowing out of the corner of the eyes that there was no life on the shelves right now.

But the signage never went away all along. If that disappeared, Mandira would’ve expected another overpriced coffee shop to take its place, just anything that would remove the traces she had left to remember him by now that his wife was living in a care facility. Veli had been keeping an eye out as well, eyes bold enough to look at the shop directly whenever he got a chance, knowing how important that shop was to his sister. The reason he was able to grow closer to her. This made him the first to notice boxes one day, moving crews, bating his breath that this wasn’t going to be bad news for his sister. When an unfamiliar young lady directed the movers, he approached to ask what’ll become of the shop. Elodie confirmed she will continue to sell flowers in her grandfather’s place.

As soon as Mandira had heard from Veli, he could hardly catch up to her sprinting towards the shop. From there, Mandira would meet not just Elodie, but all of the Mandrakes that’d been right under her nose all along. Nothing made sense anymore, nothing was scientifically possible about this, but that’s exactly what is so fascinating. Mr. Illes was excellent at surprising her with the impossible after all. For a person that’d been searching for so long for a sanctuary, it truly wasn’t just this building, the surrounding flowers, it was the company she could share within this garden. While Mr. Illes wasn’t around anymore, she could still see the parts of him within the personalities of those he impacted; Elodie, the Mandrakes, Veli, even in herself. The days to come will continue to be full of surprises.

"Hey!!! I wanted that one! No!!! You don't actually have to give it to me, you know. Whoa-- that one's even stronger! Eradicator Shadow Precision SMG? Where'd you even find that...you're the best." Siblings that'd missed out getting along for years due to Mandira's avoidance, but they're like they've always been close now. Veli somehow brings out Mandira's childish side, even though he's such a good kid, so she REALLY feels childish compared to his maturity at times. It's kinda scary how good he is at Fortnite, constantly reviving his sister when confrontations cause her to freak out and throw med kits at the opponents rather than shooting.

"What's that box over there? Love letters? No way, that's so old fashioned, haha. Ack! No, it's not a bad thing! It's probably more sincere than the texts people send nowadays...I'm jealous." Friends, they're like coworkers who have a big age gap so the generational gap sometimes stings when they don't understand each other suddenly. Even then, with Elodie growing up sickly, Mandira has to explain some experiences and trends that were common even before, at times partaking in them with Elodie to give her back part of the childhood she might've missed out on. She absolutely isn't looking to ding dong ditch with Mandira, but things like crane games and eating junk food are fun to do.

"Hah? You ran out of coffee creamer already? No, no, I cant be the only on who's drinking it, right? Right???" Both sharing the role of big sisters, they have a certain understanding, but not 100% mutual and approaches given their different upbringings. Mandira tends to learn from Neroli on what she shouldn't do as a big sister, but is also told that the "right" way to guide your siblings is ultimately up to you. It's also just very fun to share morning coffee with Neroli and Elodie, although Mandira tends to put the most coffee creamer in hers.

""YOU WHAT?! That was coffee creamer!!! Not fancy milk! Oh my goodness, how much did you drink? Wha-- YOU GAVE IT TO YOUR BROTHER?!?!" Mandira technically isn't sure exactly how to interact with kids around her brother's age, so she defaults to treating her the same as him. But you can't be too composed around kids, the questions they ask can curveball you, or it's simply the chaos they occasionally get into. Taimi is generally a good kid like Veli, so Mandira doesn't really need to worry too much. Sometimes.